INGREDIENTS:

1.Simmer the jars and lids in a canning pot with the rack on bottom. Keep jars hot until you’re ready to use them. Set the screw bands aside, they do not require heating.

Mashed blueberries and suger

2. In a large, deep stainless steel saucepan, combine crushed blueberries, lemon juice and sugar. Over high heat, stirring constantly, bring to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down, about 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in the pectin. Boil hard, stirring frequently. Check to see when the jam is set using the spoon test. Dip a metal spoon into the jam. If the jam drips off quickly, it is not set yet. If the jam coagulates and drips off slowly, it is ready to can.

Boiling Blueberries

3. Working with one jar at a time, remove a jar from the canner. Place the jar on a heat-protected work surface, such as a wooden cutting board or towel. Ladle the hot jam into hot jars, leaving ¼-inch headspace. Slide a rubber spatula down between the food and the inside of the jar two or three times to release air bubbles. Adjust headspace if necessary, by adding more hot jam. With a clean damp cloth or paper towel, wipe jar rim and threads. Center the sealing compound on the rim of the jar. Place a screw band on the jar. With your fingers, screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight. (Do not use excessive force to tighten.) Return the jar to the rack in the hot water-filled canner. Repeat filling steps until all jars are filled.

Six jars of blueberry jam, all ready to eat!

4. When all of the jars are in the canner, adjust the water level in the canner so that it covers the jars by at least 1 inch. Cover and bring the water to a full rolling boil over high heat. Once the water is boiling hard and continuously, process for 10 minutes. After letting it sit in the pot with the lid off for 5 minutes, remove the jars, lifting them out of the hot water without tilting them. You don’t want to disturb the lids while the seal is being formed. Place the jars upright on a towel in a draft-free place and let cool, undisturbed, for 24 hours.

It makes a delicious topping for toast!

Next up, strawberry jam! That will have to be a different post though, because I can’t find the memory card those photos are on…